


Everything is Roses

by doodledinmypants



Series: Pink Lars is Best Lars [2]
Category: Steven Universe - Fandom
Genre: Ace!Connie, Aging, Angst and Feels, Asexual Character, Bisexual Character(s), Cuddling & Snuggling, M/M, Making Out, Role Reversal, SPOILERS for Lars' Head, Sadie is living her best life, Spooning, Trans Character, Trans!Lars - Freeform, all characters involved in romantic physical activities are 18+ at the time of this fic, mention of romantic attraction between underage characters, takes place about 3-4 years after the episode
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-12
Updated: 2017-06-12
Packaged: 2018-11-13 05:06:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,113
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11177664
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/doodledinmypants/pseuds/doodledinmypants
Summary: "Can you believe the nerve of that kid?" Lars yelled, throwing his arms into the air. "I'm stuck like this forever, and he can just decide to 'grow up' overnight?!""Steven's never been what you'd call conventional," Sadie mused, still a little stunned and flushed in the face.---Steven finally grows up. Lars notices.





	Everything is Roses

**Author's Note:**

> All characters getting any smooches are 18+ at the time this fic takes place. That said, there are mentions of attraction to underage characters. If you feel this fic deserves an underage warning tag (or any other tags) let me know and I'll add it. I'm playing it pretty safe, though. 
> 
> Technically a sequel to Just Stay a Little, but can be read on its own. Un-beta'd and written on my phone because my laptop is butts. Will edit as needed, feel free to point out glaring errors.

Lars stood atop a cliff where, once upon a time, he'd helped Steven save their friends from a semi-sentient moss. Delicate pink blossoms drifted on the ocean breeze, carrying with them a scent that Lars remembered clearly from that day. As he closed his eyes and inhaled deeply, he realized that the faint perfume reminded him of Steven. Not just as an associated memory; Steven always smelled of sea salt and wild roses, which was nothing at all like a typical boy his age. Rather, a man his age, now.

. . .

Steven had turned eighteen a couple days ago, and he'd finally started to grow into a more appropriately sized body. Of course, he couldn't do it gradually like a normal human. No, he just walked into the Big Donut one day, fully seven feet tall, head full of thick black ringlets and manly stubble, and ordered a box of donuts like it was no big deal. Sadie had just about fallen over from shock. Only the day before, Steven had still been a slightly runty, chubby kid, and now he was all... well, damn, look at him!

Lars glowered at Steven and refused to say a thing until the (still technically younger) guy had left. "Can you believe the nerve of that kid?" Lars yelled, throwing his arms into the air. "I'm stuck like this forever, and he can just decide to 'grow up' overnight?!"

"Steven's never been what you'd call conventional," Sadie mused, still a little stunned and flushed in the face. Was she fanning herself? Rude!

Lars huffed and crossed his arms, leaning against the counter. "This town is like the worst time capsule ever. I'm still working here with you--"

"Just for the summer," Sadie reminded him, rolling her eyes. She was going back to Empire City University in the fall to complete her music production degree.

"--I'm never gonna age past seventeen, it's always the same tourists and the same corrupted gem monsters, and Mister Magic Bellybutton himself is forever like twelve years old UNTIL ONE DAY HE'S JUST NOT!" Lars finished his tirade with a dramatic groan and flopped his head down into his arms.

"You've changed, too, though," said Sadie, patting his shoulder. She ignored his glare. "You grew up pretty suddenly yourself, when you were in space."

"I died, Sadie."

"I mean you matured, doofus. You started owning your crap attitude and making better choices. You stopped letting fear run your life. You finished high school. You helped Steven and the gems defeat the Diamonds."

"I asked you out properly, finally."

"And I said no, but you took it really well." She gave him an encouraging smile. "I always cared about you, Lars, but I couldn't fix you. You had to do that by yourself, and you did! I'll always be proud of you for that."

"Don't patronize me."

Sadie left him to his sulking and started closing up for the night. Pink Lars was definitely the best Lars, but sometimes he could still be a whiny shit. At least now she didn't have to make it her problem to solve.

As they were locking the doors, Sadie tried to reach out to Lars again to cheer him up. Old habits died hard. "The band is at Tuffy's bar in Wattville tonight. You could come see us play."

Buck, Jenny, and Sour Cream made up the rest of the band, which had been called The Cool Kids as a joke originally, except now they were too well known to change it. Sadie was their lead singer. Shifting her focus from Lars to her own life had given her the chance to grow up, too.

Lars managed a weary smile, which was at least better than scoffing and making some jab at her to cover for his own insecurities. "Tempting. Maybe another time, Sadie. I'm just gonna call it an early night, I think." A lie, since he didn't really sleep more than a couple hours a day anymore. "Break a leg, though."

With a sigh, Sadie called after Lars as he started waking away. "You could just talk to him, you know. Tell him what's bothering you."

Either Lars didn't hear her or he was pretending not to. Sadie gave a final shrug and made for her car in the parking lot. Not her circus, not her monkeys.

. . .

Lars opened his eyes and caught the last sliver of red sun as it melted into the sea. True twilight set in, painting deeper purple shadows and setting the stage for the first stars to appear. The lights of the city blinked on in a scattered ripple. He watched them until even he had to admit that this was a boring way to stall the inevitable.

Sadie had given good advice, as usual. He wanted to talk to Steven, but it was... complicated. Steven felt so responsible for Lars, ever since inadvertently getting him kidnapped by alien space rocks, killed, and then resurrected as some kind of pink zombie. If Lars complained to Steven about the... new changes, Steven might guilt himself into regressing his age, and that wasn't fair either. Besides, Lars had to admit he liked the new Steven.

Really, _really_ liked him. Yikes.

. . .

Lars had known he was bisexual since before he had a word for it, which was around the same time he'd known he was a boy. Coming out to his parents had been like ripping off a band-aid: "I'm a boy, my name is Lars, not Laramie, and I like girls and boys about the same." Eventually that definition had included genders outside the binary, but hey, he was learning. It was still a pretty radical thing for him to tell his parents at thirteen.

His parents had been... thrilled? They'd thought this "identity stuff" was the key to Lars' bad grades and bad attitude in general. Within the month he'd been assigned a therapist, an endocrinologist, and things had gone pretty well for awhile. But coming out was only the first step. He had to convince everyone in Beach City of who he was, and that he deserved respect. Problem was, nobody respected the skinny, mouthy teen in the first place. The few friends he had couldn't deal with the new Lars. He told himself he was better off without them. He'd just have to make new friends. Cooler friends.

. . .

It was weird to have a crush on a guy who was three years younger than him. It was weirder yet when said guy looked like a perpetual pre-teen. But between the resurrection and the cuddling and everything else, well... he had feelings he didn't quite know how to categorize. Lars was fine burying those feelings for years after his triumphant return to Earth. He couldn't date a kid, after all. Gross. Besides, Steven had that cute girl with the glasses that was always hanging around him. Connie.

When Lars had learned that the androgynous hottie who'd made his jaw drop was actually a fusion of Steven and Connie? He almost lost his shit. Then, he couldn't stop laughing about it for a solid ten minutes after he told Sadie, just to see her reaction. He felt a little sick for looking at Stevonnie like he had, knowing now that they'd been the magical equivalent of two kids stacked in a trench coat, but he reminded himself that he'd had no way of knowing that at the time. Then he had a good, long think about fusion. What it would be like to have something so... intimate with another person. Maybe with Steven. He could fuse with other humans, couldn't he? Lars wasn't sure he counted as human anymore, but surely his magical pink bond with Steven was good for something?

Connie had came out as "definitely asexual" sort of out of the blue at a beach barbecue during an otherwise unrelated conversation. Steven had hugged her in congratulations and then anxiously asked if she was still okay being Stevonnie with him. She laughed and told him of course, and that her love for him just excluded... uh, baby-making-type activities. Her father had cried at that, much to Dr. Maheswaran's embarrassment. They'd gone ahead and started negotiating relationship boundaries right then and there, totally normal teenager stuff to talk about at a party, and Lars had absolutely not been eavesdropping.

So, Steven was essentially in an open relationship. And now he was enormous and hot. He wasn't a little kid anymore, and hadn't been for years despite his appearance, though his personality seemed pretty much the same. This was different from the time Steven had accidentally aged into an old man over the course of a birthday. This was... just how Steven was, now.

He was out of excuses. The only thing holding Lars back was Lars himself, and his stupid hangups about change and mortality and the perceptions of others. No big deal.

He was still stalling.

. . .

Steven opened the door, surprised to see Lars there. "Hey! My best buddy Lars! Come on in, I was just making waffles."

Nonplussed, Lars stepped inside and let the screen door clack shut behind him. Even Steven's voice had grown up, shifting from hyper kid to a pleasantly rough tenor. It was disconcerting. "Didn't you just buy a box of donuts?"

"Those were for Amethyst," Steven said. Apparently, 'making waffles' consisted of putting frozen waffles in the toaster and watching them intently. "I'm trying something new with this. Have you ever had peanut butter and bacon together?"

"Sounds... weird," Lars offered.

"I thought so, too! Connie said it's her dad's favorite sandwich, though, so I thought, why not make it a waffle sandwich? Even better!"

Steven puttered around the kitchen, blissfully unaware of Lars' slow descent into madness as he stood awkwardly in Steven's living room. Lars glanced at the portrait of Steven's mom hanging over the doorway-- Steven looked a lot like her, now, and also kind of like Mr. Universe, but in a good way-- and then down at the door itself. He could still leave. Forget this stupid idea, make an excuse, run away...

No. His running days were over. Lars faced his challenges head on now. He'd fought the most terrifyingly powerful aliens, dealt with the most obnoxious customers, survived a friendship with Ronaldo Fryman. He'd come out to his conservative parents. He could ask Steven Universe if he maybe wanted to make out or something.

Steven plunked a plate down on the kitchen counter, his creation complete. "There! Tell me what you think!"

Lars took a hot second to realize Steven was talking about the sandwich. He sat down on the barstool, gave the sandwich an experimental sniff, then a dubious bite. Chewing slowly, a look of wonder transformed Lars' face. "Oh wow, hey, this is actually really good!"

Steven beamed and bit into his own sandwich. His eyes closed lazily as he savored the odd combination and hummed a deep groan of appreciation that made Lars' mouth suddenly very dry. Steven's eyes popped open as Lars choked on his sandwich, and he scrambled to grab a glass of milk for his friend. "Ah, sorry! Too much peanut butter?"

"No," Lars rasped between chugs, "s'fine."

Once the sandwiches were devoured, Steven busied himself with the dishes while Lars sat on the couch pretending to read a magazine. He kept stealing peeks at Steven from behind the glossy paper, noting the dark hairs that now covered his thick arms, the way his broad shoulders moved under his shirt, the dip of his spine as it curved down to his... well, the counter was in the way but Lars could imagine. It was getting warm in the beach house.

Steven glanced over his shoulder while Lars was staring, and Lars hurriedly buried his nose in the magazine. He heard a sigh, footsteps, and then Steven was gently pulling the magazine down away from Lars' face. Lars hadn't expected to see the worried puppy eyes or pouty frown on his newly matured face, but there they were. "Lars, you came over tonight, but it still feels like you're avoiding me. What's wrong?" His expression crumbled a little. "You hate how I look now, right?"

"What? No, Steven! It's not that! It's just..." Lars took a deep breath and leaned back against the couch cushions, trying to put a little more space between himself and that face before he did something stupid. "It's a lot to get used to, little buddy. Uh. Big guy?"

Steven scratched his head and studied the coffee table. "I know. I'm not totally used to it either. But it was way past time for me to grow up, you know? I couldn't hold on to my childhood forever." He gave Lars a chagrined look. "It must be hard for you, seeing me like this, huh? Because you..."

"Yeah," said Lars shortly. "Yeah, it's hard."

"I'm so sorry," said Steven, bowing his head further, dark curls bouncing around his ears. "If I knew how, I'd..."

Lars stopped him with a hand on his forearm. The hairs there were thick but surprisingly soft to the touch. Lars tried not to let that distract him. "Don't. It's okay. You saved my life, remember? So what if I'll never grow a sweet goatee? I get to be a teenager forever. Who wouldn't love that?"

Steven looked up and studied Lars' face carefully. "You don't," he said.

Lars grimaced. "Yeah."

Lars scooted over so Steven could join him on the couch. That familiar scent, ocean and roses, hit Lars full on. Now it had an underlying note of something warm and masculine that made Lars feel tight in his own skin.

"I was hoping," Steven ventured, uncharacteristically timid, "that if I looked like this, you'd stop treating me like a little kid."

"Mission accomplished," said Lars, but it came out more breathy than wry. His heart was pounding at an almost normal human speed.

Steven took Lars' hand in his own, folding their fingers together. The size difference was laughable. Lars felt like a child, now. His own hands had always been long and slender, too small for his own liking, but when he'd held hands with Steven before the younger boy's hand fit comfortably within his. Now Steven's hand dwarfed his, yet Lars didn't pull away. "I still want things to be like they were," Steven said, "except... different."

"You're not making any sense," Lars said. He swallowed reflexively. He was hyper aware of every point of contact between them: hands, hips, shoulders. Steven was so warm. It was all Lars could do to keep himself from wrapping around Steven like a koala to soak in all that heat. Cripes, what was wrong with him?

"We can still do the things we always do! Fight monsters, go on adventures, tell each other jokes..." Steven hesitated, and a blush crept across his face. He rubbed his thumb over Lars' knuckles. "Maybe we can even still cuddle?"

It used to seem so innocent, the cuddling, but now the suggestion drew a strangled sound from Lars' throat. "Or not!" Steven backpedaled quickly, "I don't want to make you uncomfortable!"

Lars was going to spontaneously combust. "Steven," he said, voice a thin whisper, "you either need to kiss me right now or throw me out."

"Oh." Steven's eyes went comically wide. "Oh!" He smiled tentatively and scooped Lars closer to him in a one-armed embrace. "So this is okay?"

"It's still kinda weird," groaned Lars, shaking hands finding Steven's stubbled cheeks. "I don't care. Please. I need--"

Steven kissed him, and whatever Lars needed was lost in a muffled whimper against his lips. Strong, thick arms held Lars close to Steven's solid chest. Lars finally gave into the urge to melt against him, crawling up into his lap and snuggling in until there was no space left between them. Lars tasted the sweet-savory echo of waffle sandwich on Steven's lips. Peanut butter and bacon, two flavors that shouldn't go together as well as they did for how odd a combo they were. _This is a metaphor,_ thought Lars, but his brain was too busy with kissing and feelings to make much sense of it.

Steven pulled back first, breathing hard and looking a little flustered. Good, thought Lars, who had been getting exponentially more flustered since Steven had walked into the Big Donut earlier that day. "Was that okay? I'm still kinda new at this."

Lars laughed breathlessly. "I'm not much better," he admitted. For all his macho talk about dating hot beach babes, he was the most awkward penguin around anyone he found genuinely attractive. Awkwardness he used to hide under a veneer of sarcasm and petty meanness and too-loud fake laughter. No wonder Sadie had walked away. "You're fine. Let's just take this slow."

"I'm not a little boy," Steven reminded him, brow furrowing slightly.

"Slow down for me, then," Lars said. "This is... I'm still trying to get my head around it."

"Oh, yeah." Steven loosened his embrace just enough to knead his fingers gently along Lars' back. "All right?"

"That's good," Lars sighed, letting his forehead rest against Steven's shoulder. "We can just do the cuddling thing like we used to before... well, except I'll be the little spoon now. And kissing. That's nice too."

Chuckling, Steven lifted Lars into his arms as though he weighed nothing. This wasn't new, at least. Steven had always been ridiculously strong. "Upstairs."

Lars didn't even grumble about being carried up to the bed and arranged in it like a sleepy child. He didn't complain when Steven curled up behind him, one massive arm hooked snugly around his waist. He had no dry remarks about the fluffy duvet that Steven pulled over them both. He did, however, utter an undignified squeak when Steven pressed a warm kiss to the tender spot behind his left ear.

"Sorry," chuckled Steven. Then he did it again, but this time Lars was ready and he just hummed happily in response. When Steven tucked a knee up between Lars' legs, Lars wriggled until they were in a more comfortable position. He felt... safe. Warm.

Yawning, Steven flicked off the bedside lamp. The kitchen light was still on but it wasn't bright enough to bother them upstairs. "Goodnight, Lars."

"Night, Steven. Love you." There was a pause as Lars replayed that last bit in his head. "Uh..."

Steven was quiet, but when Lars rolled over to gauge his reaction, his breath caught at the unabashed affection in Steven's eyes. "I love you, too, Lars," he whispered, and kissed him again.

They stayed like that through the night, and many nights thereafter.

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> This terrible ship is eating my life. Not even my OTP, but I need more Lars/Steven cuddles in my life so here I am. I experimented with aging up the characters to push past my discomfort of writing them doing anything more romantic/sensual than cuddles. Let me know how you think I did!
> 
> I have at least one, maybe two more stories set in this timeline I want to write. The next will be Lars/Steven/Connie and deal with fusion! 
> 
> Kudos and comments give me life. Please save this queer trash fire.


End file.
